


Trip Over Your History

by killingmonsterswritingthings



Series: 10 Days of LawLu 2017 [2]
Category: One Piece
Genre: 10 days of LawLu, Canonical Character Death, Gen, M/M, Names, Nicknames
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-29
Updated: 2017-05-29
Packaged: 2018-11-06 12:26:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,145
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11036160
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/killingmonsterswritingthings/pseuds/killingmonsterswritingthings
Summary: Law doesn't have a problem with the nickname Luffy has given him - it just confuses him. He has more issues with his full name.





	Trip Over Your History

**Author's Note:**

> welcome back! :D
> 
> written for the second prompt of 10 days of lawlu, May 29 - T is for… **Torao**

 

“Hey, Torao!”

Luffy was yelling across the entire ship again, but Law could hear him getting closer. He closed his eyes for a second before pulling his hat back a little so he could see Luffy better.

“I have a name, you know?” he said as Luffy skidded to a halt in front of him. Luffy grinned.

“I know, but Torao is so much shorter.”

Law scoffed. “It barely has half the amount of syllables. You could just call me Law, that’s what everyone does, anyway.”

Luffy flopped down onto the grass and shook his head. “But then it wouldn’t be special anymore!”

“Just admit you can’t pronounce it,” Law said, a slight smile to his words. He wasn’t even mad – most people thought his name was too complicated, and not worth the time. He was blessed with a short first name for just that reason.

“Uh, I totally can,” Luffy said, indignant. “Trafalgar D. Water Law.” He took care to enunciate every syllable. Law didn’t like it, and he felt his amusement turn to annoyance. Not because of the way Luffy said it, but because hearing his full name from his mouth just sounded wrong. It wasn’t a name to be spoken, especially by good people – people like Luffy.

He shivered. “On second thought, stick with Torao,” he said.

Luffy tilted his head to the side, a question written all over his face. Law knew he wouldn’t have to wait long for it to be voiced. “A second ago you told me to call me by your real name. Don’t you like it?”

“Not my full name,” Law said.

“You don’t have pride in being a D.?” Luffy frowned.

“For what’s it worth? No.” He shrugged and felt the weird urge to slide down from the bench to be on one level with Luffy. “But that’s not the part that bothers me.”

“It’s just a name,” Luffy said, “you could be called whatever you wanted.”

“It’s not that I hate it, or that I want to get rid of it,” Law explained. “It just has a lot of connotations – and connections to my past. I like being… just Law.”

“Tell me about your family, then,” Luffy said, tilting his head towards Law.

Law sighed. “You already know everything about my family.”

Luffy shook his head. “You told me they were doctors, and that you had a sister, and that they died. That’s all I know. You didn’t tell me who they were, what they did, how much they loved you.”

It was true that he didn’t like talking about his family. They were like a scar on his mind that covered a barely healed wound – ready to split open. But they were intrinsically connected to his name and if he wanted Luffy to understand his complicated relationship with it, he should tell him about them.

Law finally gave in and moved from the bank to sit down on the grass next to Luffy.

“My parents were kind and hardworking,” he said. “They met at school, and had been together for years before they had me and later my sister.” He looked anywhere but at Luffy, directing his gaze first at the ground and then the horizon. “They made good money, but they weren’t in it for the profit… They wanted to help people. Which I assume is why they stayed so long when the outbreak happened.” He paused. It hadn’t really been an outbreak as much as a creeping epidemic finally showing its ugly face. He didn’t correct himself.

“Were they good parents?” Luffy asked and this time Law almost automatically looked at him. It was comforting.

He nodded. “There were rules, but they weren’t strict. I had all the freedom I needed when I finished my school work. And I could have done everything I wanted, could have become everything I wanted, but for as long as I can remember I wanted to be like them.” He smiled sadly and Luffy met his eyes with the same expression. Law looked down at his hands.

“I worked so much, and maybe that’s why I didn’t notice something was wrong at first… I wish I had spent more time with Lamy.”

Luffy nudged him. “Hey, you were a kid. It wasn’t your fault. She knew that.”

“Maybe,” Law mumbled. “She was so young, and so happy, and so smart. I can’t help but wonder what she would have been like now. She loved sweet things, and books, and she was better at drawing than most children her age.”

“She sounds fun,” Luffy said and their shoulders were touching now, with neither of them making the effort of moving away. It didn’t bother Law – maybe it was even nice.

He couldn’t think of much more to say, except… “My second last name, Water, was my mother’s...”

“Oh! I thought that was connected to the D. somehow.”

He shook his head. “Kind of? It came from my mother, not my father, but the names got switched around.”

“Why?” Luffy asked.

“Because the world hates women? I’m not sure,” Law said and shrugged. He had asked about it once, when he had been young, and his mother had said that she had wanted to keep the original syntax of the name, while not wanting to give up her own name. It didn’t matter much to him anymore now – the D wasn’t important to him, only the names of his parents, his sister’s name, the name he carried. It was a curse and a blessing at the same time.

“So that’s why you’re uncomfortable with your name?”

“Yeah. It connects me to my family, and helps me remember them, but at the same time… There’s things I wish I couldn’t remember, and yet I can’t escape them.”

“I understand,” Luffy said and put his arms around him now.

They stayed like that for a while and Law only noticed now, when Luffy’s warmth was seeping into him, that he had grown cold. Luffy might be easily distracted, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t a good listener. And sometimes he even knew how to be quiet.

“So I shouldn’t call you Torao anymore?” Luffy asked after a while.

Law sighed and shook his head. “No, Torao is fine.”

He had grown to first accept, and then like it. It was one of Luffy’s many quirks, and in this instance it connected Law with his past without the pain.

Luffy grinned. “Yes!” He raised his arms over his head in triumph and in doing so lost his balance and fell into Law’s lap.

“You happy now?” Law couldn’t help but smile himself and carefully ran his fingers through Luffy’s hair. Luffy’s joy was contagious – another one of his merits. Even when he didn’t manage to listen as attentively as he had this time, he always managed to cheer you up.

“Very.”

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> title from all time low's [dirty laundry](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTwmxiLSD0w)
> 
> come visit me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/luffylaws) (shhh i know i currently look like a football twitter, my team won the cup for the first time in 5 years) and [tumblr](https://leiathelight.tumblr.com), or leave me a comment!


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